State Secrets

Both the AP and the NYTimes have a big story on the CIA's destruction of the video tapes of the "interrogation" of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in Thailand based on documents released through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the ACLU.

The key points in this release are on two tracks. 1) The tapes were ordered destroyed by Jose Rodriguez Jr, then the head of clandestine services (although he denies it,) and that Porter Goss knew of the debate, seemed to support the decision, but wasn't directly involved in the orders, and that the White House's official contact, (Supreme Court nominee) Harriet Miers, knew nothing until afterwards.

And, better represented by the AP ,2)

The videos showed CIA interrogators using waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique, on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah. The videos showed that interrogators did not follow the waterboarding procedures authorized by President George W. Bush's administration, the documents show.

Jose Rodriguez, the agency's top clandestine officer, worried the tapes would be "devastating" to the CIA if they ever surfaced, the documents show.

And, as always, think about the sourcing. Remember this is just a first version based on a FOIA, not part of the final official report.

There's alot of politics left before the final version gets written.